Two local execs join Florida health IT startup

A Florida technology startup that manages health care data integrations has recruited two local executives to its leadership team as it puts to work a $4.5 million investment from a venture capital fund run by a former Publix Super Markets CEO.

New to one-year-old Bridge Connector are Chief Technology Officer Joshua Douglas and Vice President of Sales Andy Harlen. Douglas was formerly a principal at the D2 Health consulting firm and director of implementation at Sandlot Solutions, which specializes in interoperability and community health management. He first came into contact with Bridge Connector as a consultant and will lead the company’s work on its core data migration product as well as looking into other possible integration services.

Harlen previously worked at Virsys12, the local Salesforce specialists focused on health care projects, as well as PlaymakerCRM, a customer relationship management company specializing in the post-acute space. He will oversee Bridge Connector’s go-to-market strategy, business development, enterprise clients and vendor partnerships.

Douglas and Harlen now lead the 2,300-square-foot Music Row office of Bridge Connector, which company founder and CEO David Wenger plans to grow to 20 in the coming year as part of a big growth push. Today, Bridge Connector employs 25 at its Palm Beach Gardens home office and its local and Knoxville outposts.

“We’re attracting some of the best talent in Nashville,” Wenger told the Post. “This will be one of our biggest offices — and not just on the tech side, but in sales and marketing, too.”

Wenger and his team have received the backing of Axioma Ventures, a Tampa-based firm led by former Publix boss Howard Jenkins, as well as an investor group that includes Axioma co-founder Alex Jenkins, Baldwin Beach Capital CFO and SiteZeus Co-CEO Hannibal Baldwin and gastroenterologist Jeffrey Wenger.